The Cold Water
by Prom15e13elieve
Summary: Water can be the reason you live, yet it can also be the cause of your death. One of the strongest members in the guild, Ikeda Rin, is the Water Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail. Her life consists of nothing but carrying out quests, but when she returns from a 10 year quest, a certain ice wizard has his eye on her, changing her way of life for good. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

A lone girl stood in the middle of an icy river.

A circle of 30 robbers had surrounded her.

It looked hopeless for the girl; she had only a small dagger, the weapon looking as if they were made of glass; transparent and tinged with blue. The ice that filled the river was up to her thighs, trapping her legs in the frigid crystal. Her short black hair blew with the violent wind, yet she gave no shiver from the piercing cold.

"Eh? Give up already?" One bandit drawled, a rusty sword hanging from his side.

The girl gave no response, flecks of ice dotting her dark hair.

"Looks like it, Taru," another said, drawing out a crooked dagger. "I say we have fun with her first, though. We can't let that pretty face go to waste."

Still no response.

"What, girl? Cat got yer tongue?" One yelled, and the bandits erupted with laughter.

"Maybe she's frozen!"

"Aw, poor thing's scared!"

More and more laughter followed after every jeer, and one man finally composed himself enough to stand straight.

"But I agree with Tama, how 'bout we play a little with her, and ransack her belongings? I'd bet that she has some treasure in that old backpack of hers," the man declared, pointing at the black satchel that was strapped to the girl's back with a pattern of leather straps that criss-crossed over her torso.

There was a unison of nods, and Toma yelled out once more.

"How 'bout it, pretty one? You'll become one awfully fine pet for us!"

Suddenly, the temperature dropped drastically, causing the bandits to shiver uncontrollably.

A smile had stretched over the girl's lips, but the thin, wide curl of her lips held no warmth, only icy frigidness. Black hair rustled over her face as she looked up, her hands untying something at the back of her head. A pale hand brought down the white eyepatch, and the men in front of her recoiled in shock.

"Her eye!"

"I-It's...!"

"Glowing!"

The girl's right eye was a pure, gleaming white, starkly contrasting against her left eye, which had the sheen of cold steel: a shade mixing of a silvery blue and black.

However, Toma soon lost his patience, his face contorting into a sneer.

"Why do we let her crappy eye scare us?! Men, charge!" He yelled. The bandits barely had time to regain their composure before they, too, followed Toma's example, rushing at the girl with raised weapons.

"Forget about playing with her! Kill her first!" One yelled. There were cries of agreement, and one of the men brought the sword down on the girl, who remained motionless.

"You people are so annoying." Her voice was identical to the icy water drifting at her feet; cold yet mellifluous. There was a roar, and the man with the sword flew back, crashing into the snow with a sickening crack.

"Tobe!" Taru yelled, looking at the girl with relevant terror. "Who are you?!"

The girl no longer smiled, her face instead holding an expression of contempt. Her right eye began to pulse with a white light.

She pushed the sleeve of her royal blue coat up, revealing the dark blue mark imprinted on her upper right arm.

"I am a Fairy Tail wizard," she said, her voice even more frigid than before, if such thing was possible. Her voice grew louder as her right eye grew brighter.

"I am the Cold Water, the water dragon slayer of Fairy Tail."

As soon as the last word left her lips, the ice in the river cracked, then shattered with a shower of shards, the water storming in a rage beneath it. She unsheathed the dagger hanging from one of the leather straps, and the weapon grew in size, until it was a wickedly sharp blade, the surface seeming to pulse and glow like the water whirling around the girl.

The flicked her wrist, and the water responded to her movement, blowing out in a hazardous wave that swept the bandits from their feet, letting them crash back into the white snow with a series of thuds and moans.

The girl remained still for a moment, watching her weapon shrink back into a dagger. She slipped the eyepatch over her right eye, and sheathed the weapon with a small sigh.

Raising a hand in the air, a magic circle began to form on the tips of her pale fingers. A jet of water shot from the glowing circle, growing into a signal flare.

When the hiss of the water flare had finally died down, the girl dropped her right hand, and began walking down the river.

_I hope you saw the flare, Master._

_I'm finally coming home today. _

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Who's Rin?"

The question seemed to ring in their ears, all of the guild members staring at the bewildered looking ice wizard.

Gray, noticing that all the flabbergasted stares were fixed on him, shrugged helplessly.

"What? I think I was on a job when she came back several years ago. Or that she's not that memorable..." He muttered. Erza frowned at Gray.

"Are you sure you don't remember?" She asked. Gray shrugged, glancing to the side.

"I don't know... I told you, I don't remember any Ikeda Rin..." He grumbled. Erza crossed her arms, tapping a finger to her chin.

"Well, if I remember correctly, Rin would always wear some shade of blue..." She mused. Natsu stood next to Erza, also deep in thought.

"She had an earring too. It was this silver cross with a chain on her right ear, kinda like your necklace, Gray," he added. Erza nodded her agreement.

"She was quite short, the last time I saw her," Macao added.

"She had really pale skin, it was really hard to find a shade matching for a painting... and she left before I could get a portrait..." Reedus said, somewhat sadly.

"Rin had a really slim figure, too!" Mira chirped.

"And she would never get cold, so she never wore a jacket," Happy said.

"And her hair was quite long, up to her midsection," Erza pointed out.

"Yeah, Rin had black and blue hair. You know, the color is kind of like her left eye!" Natsu chirped. Gray frowned at this.

"Her left eye? Why her left? What's with her right?"

"How many questions do you want me to answer, you icy pervert..." Natsu grumbled. Gray leaped from his seat, eyeing the fire wizard with a feverish glare.

"What did you just say to me, you hotheaded bastard?" Gray growled. Suddenly, the tension was immediately ceased as both boys were shoved back by an exasperated Erza.

"Both of you, shut up!" She snapped. Both Gray and Natsu nodded wearily, staggering to their feet.

"Guys!" The trio turned around at the voice, and saw Lucy running towards them, waving a coarse sheet of paper in the air. Plue was stumbling at her heels, occasionally tripping at the Celestial wizard's heels, while Happy was flying behind her.

"We have to go on this job!" She cried, waving the request in the air. Natsu snatched the paper from her hand, and scanned it over.

"What's this?" Erza looked over his shoulder, also reading the request. The pink haired wizard handed the request to Erza, and sat back in a chair.

"Sorry Lucy, I'm not going this time. I promised Rin that I would challenge her once she gets back from this job." Natsu said, his tone a bit regretful. The paper, which was back in Lucy's hands, fluttered to the floor.

"Rin? You mean Ikeda Rin?" She sputtered. As Natsu nodded, the Celestial wizard's face lit up in a bright smile.

"Seriously?! Then forget the job, I'm staying here! I always wanted to meet her, she's just as powerful as Gildarts!" Lucy squealed, the request all but forgotten.

"Then I'm staying too. There's no point in accepting a job if we can't go all together." Erza declared, sitting down on a seat at the counter before continuing. "And besides, I want to welcome Rin home. It isn't often that she comes back to the guild, you know?" Happy raised a blue paw in the air.

"Then I'm staying with Natsu!" The Exeed said, rather proudly. However, Gray stooped to pick up the request.

"I'm going on this job," he said, almost matter-of-factly. The other members of Team Erza glanced at him with confused eyes, and Gray could only shrug.

"Well, the job is in a snowy area. I'll be fine." Gray said. Lucy fidgeted, her face etched with worry.

"Don't you want to meet Rin, though? You said you never met her..." The blonde said, her tone hesitant. Gray shook his head.

"Unlike you people, I have no benefits in meeting this Ikeda Rin."

* * *

Gray trudged along the well-frosted path, occasionally glancing around. His surroundings were just snow and ice, with the tall peaks of mountains breaking through the white landscape

_Why did I even agree to this job?_

His footsteps left deep imprints in the heavy snow, and the hem of his pants were beginning to dampen from the endless stretch of snowdrifts. At one point, he had fallen into a snow-covered ditch. His hands still stung from the encounter with the rough earth.

His job, according to the desperate man who was serving as his client, was to hunt down a pack of Vulcans that were hunting down the people that would pass the area. The pay was high, and the job didn't seem much at that time.

Until he actually came across the Vulcans.

Though the Ice wizard had encountered the occasional Vulcan, none were this tall, this massive, and this..._ frightening_.

There were about 40 of the beasts, all equally massive. One spotted him, then another, then another, until the entire pack had their glinting eyes on him.

Gray fought the temptation to run, and instead, maintained what he hoped to be a casual expression, all the while ignoring the massive maws of the first monster in his way.

"I'll teach you bastards a lesson." His voice was lost in the blowing wind, but Gray couldn't have cared less.

"Super Freeze Arrow!" He yelled, and a large magic circle formed in front of the wizard. Shards of wickedly sharp ice launched themselves at the pack of beasts, and Gray's vision was engulfed in blowing snow as each arrow hit their target.

However, when the snow cleared, one third of the Vulcans were down. But the others were perfectly fine. Staggering, yes, but standing. Gray forced the dry sensation in his throat down, and prepared another attack.

"Ice Make... Cannon!" The large cannon in his hand gave blow after blow, and he seemed to be making good progress.

Then they began to attack.

Gray knew little of what happened next. He remembered his cannon shattering into shards around him, then a blow caught him from the back. They were pummeling him from all directions, his body snapping this way and that, in a horrible dance in time to their torture. He gave of a strangled noise as he hit the ground with a sickening thud, his head spinning.

20 or 30 Vulcans, he could take on easy by himself.

But 40? No, not that much.

A Vulcan stepped in front of him, fist ready for another blow. He was too tired to do anything, it seemed as if the energy had all but left him. After all, he hadn't slept well last night, or had an easy journey to get to the client's residence.

One hit after the other came, and Gray felt scream after scream escape his lips. He felt so weak without his team; he couldn't do anything. He was a disciple of Ur, yet he couldn't do anything against a pack of freaking Vulcans.

Then it all stopped.

There was a shadow in front of him. Another Vulcan? No, this form was too petite, too delicate.

Too humane.

It was a girl.

As Gray watched with his foggy vision, the girl held a sword in her hand, the shape almost like Freed's. But this girl's sword swirled with a substance, clear and transparent.

_Water?_

_Maybe I'm just delirious and imagining this girl..._

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Gray awoke in a snowdrift.

When he sat up, his head still throbbed, but less so. When he looked down, his arms and hands were all bandaged, the gashes concealed behind the pristine white cloth. Although, Gray noted, that he was wearing an unfamiliar

"Who?" He blurted out, examining his fingers and the cloth that bound them.

"Me," Gray jolted; he hadn't been expecting an answer, and especially one with that cold of a voice. He turned around, and was quite pleased to find that there was almost no pain in doing so. His eyes landed on a girl, leaning against the snow covered cliff. Her back was turned to him.

She was the same person who had saved him.

Gray analyzed the girl for a moment. From his view, she was wearing surprisingly little for this amount of cold; a sleeveless navy blue tunic with a white skirt, while white boots encased her feet, the edge meeting with the gold trim of her tunic. Choppy blue-black hair brushed her narrow chin, and a black satchel rested on her back.

But what caught his eye was the blue Fairy Tail mark on her right arm.

"Who are you?" Was Gray's first question. However, when the girl turned around, Gray immediately jumped to his feet, eyes wide.

No... This girl was much too tall for his friend's descriptions, and her hair was cut much too short to be even considered long for a millisecond.

But everything else was there: The earring on her right lobe was exactly the same as Natsu's description, down to the thin silver chain that suspended the cross in midair. The shade of blue-black hair was the same, according to Natsu's description, despite the shortened length.

She was pretty, in a cold, fierce way―disturbingly similar to a bird of prey. An aura of cold tension hung around her thin frame, as if she was radiating power itself.

And her right eye... it was concealed in a white eye patch, similar to the one Erza had donned when she had first arrived at Fairy Tail. Her left eye scanned his face; searching.

"My name is Ikeda Rin."

_That confirmed it..._

* * *

**How was this chapter mina san? Boring? Confusing? Good? Please tell me! :DD (Yes, our Rin has a bit of a cold heart xD)**

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**Ja ne! I'll see you guys soon~**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gray stared at the girl for a while after she had announced her identity, still bewildered.

"You're Rin?"

However preposterous the idea had been, the girl did fit somewhat fit the part as the strongest Fairy Tail wizard. She was thin, yes, but her body was clearly made from muscle.

Rin nodded, never ceasing to tighten the bandage on her left arm. Gray fidgeted, examining the tightly bound fabric on his fingers. Yet his mind seemed to drift from the white fabric to the girl next to him.

Suddenly,there was a rustle of fabric, and Rin rose from her seat in the snow, dusting the cold white flecks from her tunic. She turned to Gray, her expression never changing.

"I'm leaving."

Gray jumped to his feet, and almost collided with the icy floor again.

Hissing with frustration, he managed a steady walk, and began stumbling after her.

"You're going to Fairy Tail, right?" He called.

"Yeah."

They lapsed into silence, with Gray a few feet behind her. Finally, Gray couldn't take the silence any longer.

"You're a Water Dragon Slayer, right?" He asked.

"I thought you didn't know who I am."

"Well the guild's bursting with talk about you. I've picked up a few facts here and there." Gray said nonchalantly. Truthfully, he had asked more questions than he could count on his fingers, but Rin seemed to buy his lie.

But with her expression shadowed like that, it's kinda hard to tell...

Determined to keep the conversation alive, Gray continued to ask questions.

"Were you taught by dragons, too?"

"Yes, I'm similar to Natsu in the way of being taught the Dragon Slaying Art."

She didn't use any honorifics addressing Natsu. They must be close, Gray observed.

"How come you don't have a flying cat?" He asked, looking around as if there might be a cat behind them. There was finally a break in Rin's deadpan expression, her eyes widening slightly.

"A... flying cat...? You mean an Exceed?"

"Yeah, like Happy and Lily."

"Oh... you mean Cho?" Rin asked. Gray frowned at the unfamiliar name.

"Cho?" He asked, confused. Rin immediately realized her mistake, and snapped her mouth shut. Gray got the message, and ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it..." He trailed off. But Rin shook her head, looking away.

"Katy was an Exceed, my partner. But she was killed in a battle." Her voice was quiet, but Gray caught it. Surprisingly, no emotion surfaced on Rin's face.

"It was all my fault, she tried to protect me because I failed to do my job properly, because I was too rash."

Gray wanted to laugh. Rin? Needed to be protected? Even though he had only met her for a short amount of time, it was certain that the last thing Rin needed to have was any protection. The magical power Gray had sensed from her was great; a pulsing force that seemed just as powerful as Gildarts.

"What kind of job can the strongest wizard of Fairy Tail possibly fail?" Gray blurted out, unable to keep the words in. Rin's eyes darkened, her footsteps seeming to be more and more hasty.

"The job to defeat Acnologia."

Gray's eyes widened. It was only a matter of months ago that they had escaped Acnologia's attack, and it was only due to the help of the first founder, Mavis, that they had survived the attack. And even with that, he had lost seven years of his life. Even after the Infinity Clock incident, he still received shudders of the experience.

If Fairy Tail's strongest wizard couldn't defeat the dragon, who could?

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Gray kept quiet, and they traveled the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

"What the hell happened to our guild?" Rin asked once they reached the old tavern that served as the guild HQ. Gray grimaced.

"Long story short, Fairy Tail became the lamest guild in Fiore..." He muttered. Rin shook her head, her expression turning cold.

"I don't believe this..." And with that, she began walking down the cobblestone path, her boots clicking against the stones. Gray raced after her, determined to keep up.

Inside, it was utter chaos, as always, and no one noticed their arrival. A stray beer mug flew through the air, directly aimed at Aoi. However, she caught it with one hand, her thin fingers crushing the wood to smithereens with ease.

Then it all went quiet.

All eyes were trained on Rin and Gray, their eyes wide. Rin opened her palm, allowing the wood chips of what used to be a beer mug to drop to the floor.

And then Rin smiled, a small smirk that revealed the pointed canines she had.

"I'm home."

* * *

**Hello everyone!**

**Thanks for giving this story your love xD I'm so grateful to all of you, luv ya! :DD**

**See you next time! :DD**

**Ja ne~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The guild was completely silent (Which was fairly eerie to Gray) for a beat, before every single existing member of the guild knocked over chairs and tables to get to the short haired girl standing at the doorway. Gray was swept away at some point, for he found himself outside the ring of people that had gathered around Rin.

"Rin, you grew so tall!"

"Your hair's so short now! What happened?"

"I see you still have the same earring."

Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing Natsu and Happy.

"I'm done with cleaning the front-" Natsu began announcing happily, but his words froze in his throat as his arm stopped in mid-swing. Happy— who was ignorant to his partner's shock— raised a blue paw in the air.

"Aye si-" Then the cat, too, froze in midair upon seeing the girl in the center of the mass of people.

Natsu was the first to thaw, and jumped at Rin.

"Rin! Fight me!" He yelled, bounding towards the girl. The Water Dragon Slayer simply sighed, and swung her right fist in the direction of the incoming Natsu. Her knuckles caught the Fire mage in the face, and sent him sprawling back into the wall.

Plaster cracked and shattered as Natsu's back made contact with the wood, bits of debri pelting the nearby mages. However, Natsu still regained a smile through all of this, staggering to his feet.

"Welcome back, Rin!" He announced cheerfully, the boyish grin never leaving his face. Happy flitted up next to him.

"Aye sir!" The cat agreed, raising his a paw once more. The entire guild blanched, staring at the combination of pink and blue. However, Rin didn't seem to mind, and flashed a grin in Natsu's direction.

"You haven't changed at all since seven years ago, Natsu." She commented. Macao seemed to grimace at this, and stated almost defensively.

"Well, that was because he was stranded on-"

"Tenroujima Island. I heard." Rin finished, much to everyone's surprise.

"Where did you hear about that?" Asked Lucy, an incredulous expression etched onto her face.

"I stopped by several pubs along the way. Every single one I went to had something about Fairy Tail." Rin replied, and her left eye narrowed. The surrounding guild members paled immediately, knowing what was about to come from Rin's lips.

"Anyone care to explain about the guild's ranking?" Her voice was icy, holding a cold sort of rage. Lucy shuffled her feet, Gray's eyes seemed to stray to the door as if he wanted to bolt, and Natsu ran a nervous hand through his pink hair.

However, at that moment, the Master strode into the room. Spotting Rin, he smiled before taking his usual seat on the counter.

"Looks like one of my brats has come home," the Master said, and took a sip from the tankard in his hand. Lowering the sake, the Master studied Rin, as if he was noting every change about her.

"You heard about the guild's rank, haven't you?" He asked, almost regretfully. Rin's stance changed, her expression hardening.

"Yes, Master."

"Macao," the Master called, and the blue haired mage glanced up.

"Is there any way to regain our position from before?" The Master asked, downing the rest of his sake. At this, half of the guild paled noticeably.

"Ah... Erm, yes, there is a way... But, you see..." Macao stumbled over his words, sweating bullets. Rin's left eye narrowed, and she crossed the room so she was right in front of the stuttering mage.

"Spit it out, Macao." Her voice was curt, and showed no reliance. Macao swallowed, and sighed.

"It's just this stupid thing Romeo wants to take part of..." He muttered. Alzack and Bisca, who were nearby, dropped their eyes as if the aging floor became the most interesting thing in the building.

"That's the one thing I never want to do again..." Alzack mumbled, and Bisca nodded in agreement.

"It'll just expose us to ridicule." The green haired mage added. Romeo, who was standing nearby, shook his head firmly.

"But we've got the Tenrou group back and Rin nee too! How can we lose with them?!" He argued.

"But the Tenrou group has a seven year blank!" Warren shot back. Romeo clenched both of his fists, an enraged light in his eyes.

"But we've got Rin nee! She wasn't in Tenroujima!" Romeo retorted. Warren seemed to admit defeat at this remark, and slumped against the wall. Natsu stood up from his seat on the floor, looking fairly confused.

"What's all this about bein' in it or not?" The pink haired mage asked. Romeo smiled, his energy renewed as he explained with exaggerated hand motions.

"Natsu nii, while you guys were gone, a festival started up to decide the number one guild in Fiore." Natsu's eyes widened as he grinned, suddenly filled with energy.

"That sounds fun!" The boy yelled, with Happy agreeing next to him. Romeo, pleased at the turn of events, continued.

"All the guilds in Fiore get together and compete with each other with their magic!" Romeo exclaimed, an animated light in his eyes as he raised a finger into the air.

"It's called the Grand Magic Games!"

"Grand Magic Games?" Lucy repeated, a smile growing on her face. Wendy looked equally excited.

"It sounds like fun!" The blunette agreed.

"Like a real festival," Gray added. Erza nodded. "I see. The number one guild in Fiore is Sabertooth, right?"

"Yeah! If we beat Sabertooth and win the Grand Magic Games, we'll be the number one guild in Fiore!" Romeo said.

"But..." The Master started, standing up. "I don't know if you brats are that strong enough to pull that off right now..." He mused. Macao looked relieved, then glared at his son.

"That's right! You heard the Master!" Macao exclaimed hotly. However, Romeo just smirked.

"If we win, the guild gets 30 million Jewel as a prize!" Romeo declared. the Master seemed to be won over by this, for he pointed a finger in the air.

"We're in it!"

Complaints filled the air.

"Master!" Macao protested.

"It's impossible!" Droy added.

"Between Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth isn't our only enemy!" Warren fought. But he was quickly pushed aside by Rin, whose left eye began glowing with an excited light.

"This is the kind of festival I'm staying for!" She crowed. Jet sighed at this.

"Are you sure? If Sabertooth—" He started, but quickly stopped when Rin cast a feverish eye on him.

"Sabertooth? I'll kick their asses any day, anytime." She growled, slamming a hand onto the table. Jet shrunk away as cracks seeped across the wood, and the table burst into smithereens.

"We're going into that festival, and we're winning!" She yelled, a swirl of water encasing her raised fist. The guild members responded to her cheer, and the Master's voice carried over the noise."

"Now, my brats! We're going to win that festival and we're going to get that 30 million- ahem, I mean the number one spot in Fiore!"

At the back of the crowd, Gray smiled as he caught a fleeting glance of Rin, oblivious to the rain woman behind him.

* * *

"Its the beach!"

There were two flying trails of sand as Gray and Natsu raced to the ocean, proceeding with a contest of who could swim the fastest. The rest of the group soon joined them, all of them diverging into small groups.

Rin had hung back, smiling at the energetic group.

_They still haven't changed at all..._

However, a tap on her shoulder quickly brought her back to reality. Rin immediately tensed, expecting an attacker, but turned to only see the blue eyes of the rain mage.

"Can we talk, Rin san?" Juvia asked. Rin blinked, but nodded her agreement.

"About what?" Rin asked, her tone a bit cautious. She had heard that Juvia was especially vile to anyone who she thought to be a love rival. Juvia averted her eyes, shuffling her feet slightly.

"It's about Gray."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUN xD hahaha yes, Juvia finally creates her grand appearance :O**

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**Ja ne~**


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